HONG KONG - Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) continues to expand its international reach through stronger global research collaboration. In mid-July 2026, a delegation from the Faculty of Language and Literature Education (FPBS) and UPI’s Innovation Division conducted a series of working visits to two leading universities in Hong Kong, namely The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) on 14 July and The University of Hong Kong (HKU) on 15 July, to deepen cooperation in research and learning innovation.
The UPI delegation to Hong Kong was led directly by the Dean of FPBS UPI, Prof. Wawan Gunawan, M.Ed., Ph.D. He was accompanied by Yanty Wirza, M.Pd., M.A., Ph.D., Vice Dean for Student Affairs and Partnerships at FPBS UPI, and Ari Arifin, M.Ed., Ph.D., Head of UPI’s Division of Innovation Development and Intellectual Property. The visit was designed to open opportunities for global-scale scientific publication collaboration and the adoption of up-to-date educational innovations.
Day One: Multi-Disciplinary Research Synergy at EdUHK
The visit series began on Tuesday, 14 July 2026. The UPI delegation held an intensive meeting with the EdUHK research team led by Dr. Ju Seong Lee, Executive Co-Director of the AI, Brain, and Child Research Centre at EdUHK. The discussion was also attended by other EdUHK researchers, namely Dr. Maggie Shen Qiao, Dr. Artem Zadorozhnyy, Dr. Lanfang Sun, Ms. Han Xie, Ms. Fiona Fangyu Men (Ed.D candidate), and Ms. Tricia Chuxu Yu, who serves as a Research Assistant (RA).
The first day’s meeting focused specifically on joint research collaboration and the acceleration of international scientific publications. The agenda included a research sharing session, during which both parties presented their respective research roadmaps to identify promising intersections of interest.
“We are working to map out future research potential, particularly by combining UPI’s expertise in language education with EdUHK’s strengths in educational neuroscience research and the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) for children,” said Prof. Wawan Gunawan.
The discussion was productive and concluded with an agreement that UPI and EdUHK would promptly follow up with a further technical meeting. The next session will focus on preparing a detailed joint research proposal and determining the technical division of work among the researchers.
Day Two: Exploring Foreign Language Learning at HKU
The following day, Wednesday, 15 July 2026, the UPI delegation continued its academic visit to one of Asia’s oldest and most prestigious universities, The University of Hong Kong (HKU). There, the delegation was warmly welcomed by the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Prof. Yang Rui, and Prof. Elizabeth Ka Yee Loh, who serves as Assistant Dean as well as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at HKU.
The meeting at HKU focused on exploring research collaboration, particularly in the field of foreign language learning innovation. The involvement of Prof. Elizabeth Ka Yee Loh was considered highly strategic, given her strong track record in developing language teaching methodologies in East Asia. Both parties discussed the potential for comparative research on the effectiveness of culturally based digital learning media in foreign language classrooms. The visit to HKU generated a highly positive response and is expected to lead to discussions on the signing of a formal cooperation agreement (MoU/MoA) as well as the formulation of detailed long-term academic collaboration plans.
Through this academic mission to two elite institutions in Hong Kong, UPI reaffirmed its commitment not merely to observe, but to act as a driving force in the landscape of global education research. The success of this exploratory visit is expected to enhance UPI’s academic reputation and produce research outputs with tangible impact on education at both national and global levels.